Charity Digital Study

How do the general public interact with charities online? Third Sector has partnered with Harris Interactive to launch the inaugural Charity Digital Study, which will provide comprehensive insight into the public's digital experience from both a website and social media perspective. Covering 2,000 UK social media users, the study will look at the giving habits, behaviours and perceptions of this ever-growing, and ever-changing, audience.

Description

As a critical friend of charities, Third Sector has always sought to strengthen the Charity sector, helping professionals like you develop their specialist skills and knowledge. With that in mind Third Sector Research has developed the newly launched Charity Digital Study.

From the “no makeup selfie” to the “ice bucket challenge”, the digital strategy of your charity has never been so important. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube or any of the other seemingly endless channels to potential donors, it’s vital to understand your audience, and the journey that they experience.

For example, if you’re aged from 18-24, you’re twice as likely to research a charity digitally before donating. The vast majority are looking to learn more about the charity, to make sure the charity is legitimate, and to ensure their money will be used the “right” way.

But how do you target that audience? Unsurprisingly 57% of 18-24 year olds have taken part in a sporting challenge to raise money for a charity. This is more than any other age group. What it may surprise you to know is that 40% have also hosted a charity fundraising event, again a higher percentage than any other age group.

This demographic represents just 253 of the 2,000 members of the general public we interviewed, all of whom have interacted with a charity digitally in the past 12 months. Whether your charity is looking to target young or old, male or female, or a broader audience, the Charity Digital Study provides a fascinating number of insights into your target demographics including;

How you interact with a charity both offline and online, and the frequency of doing so

Which charities do you interact with, why, and what are you looking for?

How do you donate to charities – Online and offline methods, and how often

Methodology

The 113 slide summary report provides an overview of the charity sector. Please contact us for a preview of the report, as well as the questionnaire.

For 60 charities that were included within the Charity Brand Index, we have asked the audience further questions about these specific charities. This has provided us with additional data on how the public interacts with them digitally, moving beyond into why, as well as what they’re looking for.